Poor Donaghy

How would you like to be referee Tim Donaghy? This poor guys is going down in history as a sports villian. The league is going to have to come down hard on him just to send a message at how serious this is. The feds are going to have to come down hard on him if not just to justify the whole Bonds stuff (if they’re going after Barry for steroids, what does Donaghy guy deserve?).
It’s kind of ironic that this is happening to the NBA. David Stern is so concerned about the image of the league, he instituted a dress code, an age limit and replaced the new ball the players hated. Now it comes out that the NBA knew about the gambling problem and investigated him, but still let him ref games.
Turns out ghetto young black men aren’t the league’s only eye sore, certainly not its worst. A middle-of-the-road referee with a gambling problem is making Allen Iverson look like a Good Samaritan. It’s easy to say, what can you do about it? Not much. Shady people do shady things, and they are generally good about hiding their shady-ness.
For starters, refs have to be paid more. That’s across the board in all sports — especially the NFL, which have part time referees.
Secondly, the refs need to be accessable to the media. It is the media who finds these things out. It is the media that gets close to public figures and find out the dirt in their lives so they can reveal it. Imagine if the media had a chance to interrogate referees about their calls and their decisions. Referees would be much more apt to be sure about their whistle. As it is now, it is just accepted that they make terrible calls (I don’t care how much they are tested and watched), so their is no accountability.
This is going to hurt the league, and it better put the NFL and MLB on guard. If you think Donaghy’s the only one, you’re crazy. Gambling is a major problem in this country, and sports’ participants aren’t immune.

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Marcus Thompson

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Of course there is a a major problem with regards to gambling and unfortunately, there will always be a problem because it involves big time money. It may not happen now but it will happen for sure. In my opinion, that is just Human Nature. I mean, Just how Business Ethics and these Billion Dollar industries, not to mention the power that goes along with it, could possibly reconcile? Yes it can work together to an extent, but When nobody is watching and there is an opportunity to strike gold or oil….

The Thing that we can do however, is to simply catch them with more aggressiveness and vigilance. Set them as examples not just here but to the World as the World is Watching… These referees should be given background clearances and investigation.

Major Sports is a vital component in the development of this country and if we lose these institutions due to lack of integrity and credibility, We will have big problems ranging from, Industrial collapse of Sports, Unemployment, Sporting Busines Downfall, to a people with a sagging morale, especially for the working man.

My second point is this, Before we judge Bonds, Vick and the rest, Let’s remember this thing with Donaghy is much bigger. It can affect Basketball Worldwide… If Donaghy deserves his day in court, then Bonds and Vick should also be given their day in court before they’re officially judged by publicity or facts.

David Stern handled this case poorly and it is so Unfair to the paying fans… especially to the young aspring dreamers of the sport. That’s just my opinion. Thank you.

Marcus Thompson

Extremely well said, Ewok. Very impressive. No one really talks about that, but that is why I think the NBA won’t be too impacted, like baseball hasn’t been too impacted by the steroids controversy, because sports is too interwoven into American culture. Widespread abandoning of these sports would cripple the nation, and there is so much money involved, the powers that be won’t let that happen.